Left – Angelique Cassimatis. Cover – Scott Irwin and cast. Photos – Lightbox PhotographyPerverse.
A musical about a silent movie maker and his silent movie star is very loud.
The current Hayes Theatre production of Mack & Mabel starts off with such ear haemorrhaging volume that the show may well have been called No Lack of Decibel.
Strange that such an intimate space dedicated to musical theatre needs such amplification when the actors are clearly competent and capable of vocal projection. The over amplification of the natural power of their voice made them sound shrill and shreikish. And the obvious wires, headsets and radio mike packs made the cast look like call centre operators or cyborgs, the wires and obtrusive bumps despoiling the glamour of costume and setting. Perfect for Westworld Story, perhaps, but not a story about the dream factory of Hollywoodland in the Twenties.
Auditory quibbles aside, laudatory kudos abide with a terrifically energetic, focused and charismatic cast led by Scott Irwin as Mack and Angelique Cassimatis as Mabel.
Mack is Mack Sennett, silent movie maker best remembered as creator of the Keystone Cops.
Mabel is Mabel Normand, silent screen star whose career was elevated and sustained for a while by Sennett.
Book by Michael Stewart and music by Jerry Herman, the duo that delivered Hello Dolly!, Mack & Mabel is a bitter sweet dark romance between the megalomaniac movie maven and the popular actress who aspired to more varied work in feature films rather than the two reeler madcaps that made her fame.
The darker aspects of their doomed romantic and working relationship are beautifully exemplified in the songs I Wont Send Roses, Wherever He Ain't and Time Heals Everything, leavened with the upbeat show tunes I Wanna Make the World Laugh ( a toe tappin', lid dippin' nod to Singin' in the Rain's Make 'em Laugh), Look What Happened to Mabel and Big Time, the latter which gives Deone Zanotto as Mabel's fellow silent screen star, Lottie, a scene stealing knock-out.
Cameron Mitchell's choreography kicks in big time with Hundreds of Girls and Tap Your Troubles Away, and the lyric-less conga chase redolent of a Keystone Cops caper is sensationally silly.
Maybe Mack's sentiments about movies – dialogue not included – could, no disrespect to lyricists, be more closely adhered to.
Musicals, after all, are called musicals, not lyricals. Just a thought.
Regardless, Mack & Mabel is a most entertaining Sennett enquiry.
Working Management in association with Hayes Theatre Co present
Mack & Mabel
music and lyrics Jerry Herman | book Michael Stewart
Director Trevor Ashley
Venue: Hayes Theatre Co | 19 Greenknowe Ave, Potts Point NSW
Dates: 18 November – 18 December 2016
Tickets: $70 – $80
Bookings: hayestheatre.com.au | (02) 8065 733
